Anything to protect you
by Joker with dreams
Summary: The worlds were finally saved. But then, our three friends receive a letter from the king and are asked to help one more time. Only this time, they don't now what they're up against.. It's dangerous and they get cornered, there is only one way to escape.. What will Sora do in order to save his friends this time?
1. Happy

Happy – Pharrell Williams

"Dazing off again, are we?"  
"I wouldn't.. "

Sora opened his sleepy eyes and a yawn escaped his mouth before he looked at the redhead who was standing next to him. Her bright blue eyes looked straight at him and she smiled gently. He laid flat on the beach with his hands behind his head. There would be no decent excuse this time for being lazy..

"Ok, I might've closed my eyes a couple of seconds.."  
"Like always, your seconds are way longer than the normal ones", she came sitting next to him.  
"Gimme a break, Kairi! After such an adventure it's almost obligated to take some powernaps!"  
"Sure, if the keyblade wielder says so, but.."

Oh no, now he was in trouble, did he forget something? She always did this when he was supposed to do something instead of trailing off in the soft sand of the beach. He just couldn't figure out what he forgot, it wasn't her birthday because that's in a couple of months, party preparations maybe?

".. I'm also a keyblade wielder now, do you see me take a powernap between my practice?"

Oh, he forgot her practice.. She wanted to practice with him ever since they got back to the Islands together. She wanted to be strong enough to protect herself, so that he and Riku didn't have to save her anymore. That little fragile girl from before was now more than ever a memory from the past. She became stronger, more confident AND she took lessons from the great master Yen Sid. Even Sora didn't have lessons this soon, he even failed his _Mark of Mastery exam._ She was just unstoppable, from the moment that she had summoned her keyblade, she had been practicing 8 hours a day without complaining. Soon, she'd be better than him if he didn't practice. So he secretly practiced with Riku in the evening because now that the heartless were gone, they could only practice with each other. And now he forgot to practice with her, hopefully she wasn't too hard on him.. He sat straight and wiped the sand out of his spiky brown hair with his right hand.

"I'm sorry that I wasn't in time for practice, everything is just so peaceful out here."  
"So you do remember?" She smiled at him, "You're making progress then!"  
He stood up and wiped the sand off his pants, "Well, we can practice here and now if you want, a nice sand beach, some decorative palm trees and a lovely blue sea, the perfect scenery for a good training!" He smiled and helped her up. She also wiped the sand off her clothes.  
"That sounds great! Let's start then!"

This was going to be interesting, she summoned her keyblade and took a battle pose. With that keyblade of hers, she had obliterated many heartless. It looked as gorgeous as it was lethal.. And Kairi was just perfect for it, she was so gracious and still determined.

"Well, are you ready or not? You had enough time to nap."

She got a big smile and gave a swing on her keyblade in his direction. Sora instinctively summoned his own keyblade and blocked her attack right on time. Wow, she was fast! She got back to her battle pose.

"Now that I've got your attention, what do you think of this?"

She attacked from his left side, which he blocked, then she hit him from the front with three following attacks. She had so much speed that Sora could only block her attacks. He had no time to attack her in return. Suddenly she jumped and attacked him from above. When did she get this good? With an inch to spare he got away, but landed in the sand when he lost his balance. She was really good. There he was, knocked in the sand by his old friend. A girl. Who would've figured that out?

Kairi came lying next to him and he couldn't help but ask: "Wow, how much did you practice lately? You jumped.. and you were so fast and.. Great balance by the way!"  
"So you noticed? Maybe I've had a little trip to Phil at the colosseum.."  
"Phil? He helped you? Wow, hold it for a second!" Sora turned himself to Kairi and put his hand under his head for support and asked: "Phil helped you?"  
"Yes, he came to me saying that I had much potential. I first thought that he was talking about Aqua, but she doesn't need training anymore as a master. So I took his lessons. They're actually really hard.."  
"Hah, Phil doesn't train everyone so I guess you're lucky to draw his attention then."  
"Actually-"

Their conversation was stopped by Riku who called their names: "Hey Sora! Kairi! Check this! A letter from the king! I found it in a bottle at the beach."  
Sora looked at Riku who was walking towards them, "From the king? Have you read it yet?"  
"No, I thought that it concerned all three of us", said Riku, "There must be something up again."  
"Another quest? This time I'm going with you guys!" said Kairi.  
Riku looked at Kairi and said: "I don't see why not, you took Sora down."  
"Hey! I just slipped ok? This sand is just so tricky and I was off guard."  
"Ow, was that it? From a distance it looked like you got your ass kicked by a girl.. Did I see it wrong? I should've paid more attention then.."

That Riku! Why did he put it in those words? Was he really watching the whole time?

"Well, I want to see you trying to fight her then, she's really gotten stronger, Riku! And faster too."  
Riku grinned widely: "Or your footwork is just too slow."  
Kairi had a small smile on her face: "Guys! Just read the letter please? We've got no time for this.."

Riku and Sora glanced at each other for a moment before turning their attention to the letter. Riku got the letter out of the bottle and when he rolled it open, there was a gummi block inside it. It looked like a star shard! Would they need to travel through the worlds again? The letter was written by the king himself and it said:

_Sora, Riku & Kairi,_

_I'm sorry to contact you this soon,  
but there's big trouble brewing.  
Not sure why, but there are unversed spotted in the worlds.  
And that means disaster can't be far behind.  
I would like you three to go check into it.  
There's someone dark who controls them,  
and I need you three to find out what his goals are.  
Got it?  
We need to stop him or we're doomed!  
So go to Hollow Bastion and find Leon.  
He'll point you in the right direction._

Kairi looked at Riku while she said: "That sounds serious."

And she couldn't be more to the point. What were these unversed? A kind of heartless? Or nobodies maybe? Well, there was one way to find out and Sora couldn't help but smile: "Now we get to see the restoration committee again! Let's go and say hi to Leon!"  
He took Kairi's hand and she held on to Riku's hand. Then Sora held the star shard in the air and said: "To Hollow Bastion!"  
And the three of them disappeared in a flash of light.


	2. Watch out for this

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of this story, all credits go to the game!**

Well, Leon would never admit it but with so much unversed around, he was almost at his limit. Those creatures were with many and they were more powerful than the heartless or the nobody's ever were. At a time like this, it would really come in handy to have Sora at his side. A keyblade wielder is always welcome in these situations. He took out three unversed in one swing when he spotted a sudden light in the sky. Was it a light? More like a lightning! And it was getting much closer with an amazing speed! Leon hit another unversed and rolled to the other side, in hope that the lightning wouldn't strike him. The moment it hit ground, someone yelled and the flash of light faded away.

A female voice said: "Sora you idiot! You never get a hold on that star shard again!"  
As the light had faded, Leon saw three teenagers crashed on the ground and a familiar face grinned and took his hand through his hair while saying: "Woops, think I need a little practice.."  
"Try to land next time instead of crashing..", said Riku as the three of them got up from the ground.  
Kairi looked at Riku as if he had just told her that she had to jump in a river full of hungry piranha's.  
"Do you mean that he gets to travel with that again? He needs a miracle to control that shard!"  
"I'm sorry Kai, at least we didn't land on a roof. I just thought about Leon and..", Sora looked around and he saw the smile on the face of his older friend, "Leon!"  
"I'm glad to see you didn't change, and by the way, you made it right on time."

The three travelers looked around and finally saw all the unversed who had backed down from the bright light of their crash-landing. The three instantly summoned their keyblades.

"Just leave them to us," Sora said.

Flashes of blades let the unversed disappear and after several attacks the unversed were gone. Sora turned to Leon with his thumb up: "There you go, Sora, Riku and Kairi, at your service!"  
"You three make it look so simple.."

Sora took another look around and saw a black coat watching them from a distance. Didn't they defeat the organization already? Then why was that guy wearing a black coat? But this was probably the one who summoned all these unversed, no doubt about it!

Sora turned to the figure and yelled: "Hey you there! Do you still want to fight?"

The black coat didn't move one step but Sora could clearly hear an old male voice:  
_Choose your questions better, boy..  
_The voice was very calm and determined. Was this real? How could he hear a voice from such a distance? Was that voice inside his head? Maybe it was just his imagination..

Confused by the black coat's answer, Sora said: "Well, come here if you want to settle this!"

Leon, Riku and Kairi also looked at the direction where Sora was speaking to and saw the black coat.  
_No need to rush.. See you soon, Sora.  
_With those words, he disappeared in a black portal and let Sora confused behind.

"Who was that guy?" Kairi asked. "Didn't you two deal with the organization?"  
"Guess not.." Sora said, "I don't quite get what's happening here.."  
"Well, whatever's going on, we need to do something about it. Did the king sent you guys?", asked Leon, " Because we really could use your help, you see, those unversed are terrorizing the whole town. We tried to defeat them, but they keep coming back."  
Kairi smiled at Leon: "Let's go say hi to the others first!"  
"They're all waiting at Merlin's house."  
"Let's go then," Riku turned to Sora, "Hey Sora, ready to go?"

Sora was still looking at the spot where that guy disappeared a moment ago. That guy knew his name! What did that mean? Did he meet him before? And what had he meant with _'Soon'_?

"Sora? Hello! Sora, wake up!" Riku said as he laid a hand on his friend's shoulder.  
Like waking up from a daze, Sora turned to Riku, asking him: "Did you hear that voice too?"  
"What voice?" asked Kairi, a bit concerned about her friend.  
"Well, you know, the voice of that guy from before.. Did you hear it too?"  
Riku looked at his friend and said dead-serious: "Sora, there was no voice, that guy was too far away so we wouldn't hear it if he had said anything.."  
"Right.. That's what I thought..", said Sora before putting up a smile, "Must've just imagined it."  
"Silly you, well what are we waiting for? Let's go see the restoration committee!"  
"Kairi's right, everyone's waiting," said Leon and he began walking with Kairi towards Merlin's house.  
"Let's go then!", said Sora and he looked at the concerned look of his friend, "I'm fine, really!"  
"If you say so.." said Riku before he turned around to follow Leon. Sora looked once more at the spot: "Nah, that couldn't have been real.. What am I worrying about?"

And he turned around, following after his friends.

Leon didn't exaggerated, there really were a lot of those unversed. After every corner there were more of them, and stronger ones too. So when they reached Merlin's house, it was really welcome that they could finally take a break. Especially Kairi, this was her first time on a big journey and she had to deal with a lot in a really short amount of time. Sora looked at her and if she was tired or scared, then she didn't show it at all. It looked like she was just having fun! They went in the house and Sora was glad to see all those familiar faces again.

"Hi everyone, I heard you could use some help."  
"Sora! Finally you got here! And who did you bring with you? Oh, are those your friends that you were looking for?", Yuffie turned her attention to Kairi and Riku, "Well, I must say that he really talked a lot about you guys, really annoying actually.."  
"Yuffie!" Sora exclaimed.  
"Oh, did I say too much? I'm sorry, I'm just glad to see you guys finally in person."  
"Yes, it's very nice to meet you. I'm glad Sora finally found you," said a girl in the corner. She had a big pink ribbon in her hair that matched her pink dress. Aerith looked elegant as always.  
"So, we're really that important?" Riku smiled at Sora. "Nice to know that."  
Sora glanced at Riku: "Could we get to the point now? We were sent by the King and he wanted that we found out what or who was responsible for all these unversed. Do you guys have any leads?"  
Cid turned to Sora: "Thought you would never ask, mate. The unversed were first spotted in this town, so we're definitely going to check every corner. The problem is that those unversed are everywhere, but there are a lot more at the postern.."  
Sora looked at Riku in understanding and then nodded at Kairi: "We're on our way then. There has to be a clue at the postern. Thanks for the help guys! " before they left, Leon said: "No problem, just be careful. Those unversed are no heartless, that's for sure.."  
Sora turned to Leon with his thumb up: "Don't worry about us, we're back in no time!"  
Leon smiled: "Guess I forgot who I was talking to.."

And so they left the committee behind on their way to the postern.


	3. This is war

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters! All credits go to the game!  
Well, here's chapter 3! I hope you like it!**

When they got to the postern, there were no unversed to be found. Sora looked behind some crates, he walked around every corner, but not one of those dark creatures dared to show up. Confused, he turned to Riku:

"Euhm.. Could it be that Cid's data was wrong? Well, I mean.. there's no unversed to be found here.. No judgment really, just saying the facts.."  
Kairi's face looked very cautious: "Cid's data detects dark powers. Do you think it could be.."  
"A trap." Riku immediately summoned his keyblade and said to no one in particular: "Hide and seek isn't my favorite game, so why don't you just come out and fight us if that's what you want!"

Out of nowhere, three black coats appeared surrounding the three of them. They all got a very different posture. It didn't feel right to look at those black coats again. Kairi and Sora also summoned their keyblades. One of the coats started laughing.

"Do you always rush in a fight like this?"

That was the same voice from before.. Sora took a better hold of his keyblade and yelled at that coat: "Well, why don't you tell us what you're up to? Then we'll consider going easy on you!"

The coat laughed even harder, took his cowl off and showed a bold, old man with yellow eyes that seemed to observe your every move in a cold and calculated way. He turned to Sora and those same yellow eyes were looking at him now. His lips didn't move, but Sora heard that voice again..

_You dare threatening me, young man? It's curious.. you really believe that you can lay a hand on me. Maybe I'll tell you what I'm planning on doing with you. But let's measure your strength first, shall we? And Sora, don't forget about this fight, because there will be a lot more._

"Planning on doing with me? What are you talking about?"

_Well, fight and see for yourself.._

The old guy took off his coat and was dressed in almost the same clothes as Ansem had. Suprising Sora, he also summoned a keyblade! What could this mean? Was he a master? But there was no time to think about that, because the other two coats also summoned their weapons and it seemed that the fight had started. Kairi faced against the coat with the six lances and the old guy pointed his keyblade at Riku, so that meant that Sora was faced against the one who summoned two arrowguns. He was slightly disappointed that he couldn't fight the old man, he made Sora curious. But now he had to fight his minion. Well, there were more worse things to pass your time..

He turned at his opponent: "I guess you can't be that strong.."  
"Hah, as if! Strong enough to defeat you is perfect at this moment," said the coat and he began his first attack on Sora by pointing one of his arrowguns at him. Suddenly six red laser arrows shot out of it and Sora had to jump to avoid them. As he landed, he tried to hit the coat with a counterattack, but the coat was already gone before he could hit him. That guy was fast.. Another load of those red laser arrows tried to hit him and he dodged them by rolling over the ground. The coat laughed: "Well, I thought this fight would be at least a little exciting.. Too bad for you, kiddo."

Sora jumped towards him, but again, the coat disappeared before he even got close. How could he lay an attack on him if he didn't get close enough? This guy was fast and he only attacked at a long distance, so in a close-combat it would be easy to strike him down. But how could he get closer? Or could he better hit him at a distance? After dodging the same attack again, Sora summoned his wisdom form in the hope that it would help in this situation. When another attack of those red laser arrows came for him, he slid away and directly counterattacked it by shooting magic bullets to his enemy. And it hit! While his enemy was reloading, he had a time-range of about 10 seconds before another attack would come to him. Now, this was getting interesting..

Kairi was shocked of how strategic this man was. She was fast, but this guy.. He disappeared while his lances followed her and then he took his chance to hit her with his strength. She nearly got away with a scratch.. What could she do? This was way more difficult than some of those unversed, compared to this guy, those creatures were a child's game! She dodged another one of his attacks. This was no training, she could really get hurt this time.. She needed a strategy like him. Right! But she hadn't been in a real fight yet, how could she think while she had to keep on dodging the attacks? She would wait until after his next attack and then she would strike fast with all the power she had, she just hoped that there would be enough time before he regained his strength..

Riku was exhausted. Who was this man? He looked so old and yet.. he was so powerful.. Everything he tried seemed no good at all. It was like he didn't fought someone, but that he was training with a teacher who seemed bored to the bone! It was just so frustrating!

"Boy, are you even trying?"

Did this old man really ask that? How much power did that man have? He attacked the man once more with a combo-attack but it was no use, the man just blocked it blindly..

"I heard a lot about you. You embraced your inner darkness, but yet you returned to the light.. What a shame, you had so much more power then. Do you call yourself a master now, boy?"

Riku planted a couple more attacks on the man but not one of them hit him, even his magic was blocked by a counter-spell. He stopped his pointless attacks and answered the old man's question: "Why do you care? It's not like you're my master."  
"You're right, you wouldn't have passed the _Mark of Mastery exam_ if I had taught you.. You gave up your true power for these childish attacks, that means that you're not ready to be a master yet."  
"Stop it! Just focus on our fight!" said Riku as he stood in his battle pose.  
"What a pity. All that power thrown away.. I'll show you how a true master fights weaklings like you."

And the next moment, the man had disappeared. Riku looked around him, but he couldn't see him anywhere. He felt a shift in the wind behind him and turned around, just to block an attack that was aimed at his back. Then the man disappeared again. Riku looked behind him, around him, but the next moment he felt a blade sliding through his shoulder. The man had struck him from above! He screamed in pain, cursing the old man and placed his left hand on his now wounded right shoulder.

"A scream? What was that?" Sora looked up from his own fight and saw Riku standing with his left hand on his shoulder. What was going on? Another load of red laser arrows tried to hit Sora and he had to focus on his own fight. Riku needed backup! How could he end this fight as fast as possible to help Riku?

Riku looked at that old man. Who was he? He looked cripple, but he fought like a really powerful warrior. That man had hit his battle arm and now he couldn't strike anymore. The old man laughed and disappeared again, his attacks were much faster now and Riku got cut in his back, his left upper leg and his stomach. He felt the blood flooding from his veins onto the floor. This couldn't be.. So fast.. He fell on his knees and then those yellow eyes appeared again. How could he explain Sora that he had lost against an old guy? Those eyes.. The next moment, Riku lost consciousness..

"Riku? Riku! Are you ok?! Riku!"

The black coat that battled Sora laughed and disappeared. What was going on here? Sora ran to the spot where Riku laid on the floor. All that blood on him.. Could it all be from his friend? No way! The other guy must look awful if Riku looked like this. Sora dismissed his wisdom form. Kairi also ran to them and immediately looked at Riku's wounds: "He needs help! The guys in the black coats are gone, so let's get out of here! Aerith will know what to do!"

But then that man appeared again, the one who had done this to Riku. Sora looked carefully, but the man didn't even have a scratch. How could this have happened? Riku was so strong.. The old man smiled at the sight of Riku. Those yellow eyes of him were filled with joy. Sora didn't know what to do. This man was bad news! Should he be scared for an old man? Nothing seemed right here..

The old man turned his attention to Kairi: "Well what have we here, a true princess of haert?"  
He pointed his hand at Kairi and the next thing Sora saw was that Kairi was catching her breath. It looked like she couldn't breathe anymore!  
"Let her go! If you have to fight someone, pick me then! Fight like a man!"  
Those yellow eyes looked straight in those of Sora's: "So you would take her place?"  
"I would do anything for her, even if it kills me!", said Sora before running towards the man, trying to hit the man's arm that pointed at Kairi. By his attack, the old man had to lose his grip on Kairi and Sora yelled at her: "Get away with Riku! Don't worry about me, I'll be back before you know it!"

Kairi was still out of breath, but she nodded to him and laid Riku's left arm in her neck, carrying him to Merlin's house. Now it was only Sora and that man. What would he do now? If even Riku couldn't beat this guy, then he really was a tough one. This was going to take longer than he thought..

"You're going to pay for what you did to Riku! You hear me?" that sounded confident, good.  
"That boy isn't important, I just showed him what true power can do."  
"Riku's my friend! It matters to me! Anyone who hurts him, deals with me!"

Sora pointed his sword at the old man and shot a fire ball to him. Then he ran as fast as he could and attacked with a three-fold combi-attack. Sadly enough, all his attacks were blocked in an instant. Sora backed down and summoned his valor form. When the guy would block his attack, it would still have an effect on him. He attacked again, but now from above and then directly at his sides. It seemed that all of his attacks were blocked again, but the old man grinned:

"Well, you're definitely trying harder than that boy from before. Show me what you got!"

Sora was just about to! He aimed at the old men's legs and he almost had him, but at the last moment the old man's black keyblade blocked the way. He turned and did a five-fold combi-attack aimed at the old men's back, his sides, his right arm and his left leg. But it was all blocked.

"I'm impressed, but you've got yet a lot to learn. Let's see if you can block my moves."

The next moment, the old guy disappeared without a word. Sora turned around and blocked a first attack. A smile appeared on the old guy's face as he disappeared again. Sora rolled over the floor and dodged nearly the old man's attack from above. His valor form had almost run out!  
He jumped to the man to attack him, but he was gone before Sora's keyblade could hit him. When Sora touched the ground, something hit his right leg. The cut wasn't deep, but blood was running out of it. Sora diverted a next attack right on time that was aimed at his chest. But he wasn't fast enough and his power of his valor form was faded away. Now his left arm was cut too, this fight couldn't go on for very long or he'd lose his valor form and then he had no chance against this guy.. The old man disappeared again and Sora was cautious. Then that voice spoke again:

_I see much potential in you, Sora. What do you think of making a deal?_

"I don't make deals with scum like you!"  
He held his hand on the wound on his right leg to stop the bleeding but it didn't help much. His valor form disappeared, his strength weakened.

_Is that so? And what do you think of a deal that says that I'll spare your life and_ _that those two friends of yours will not be harmed again? Really an offer you can't refuse, right?_

"Deals always have a catch, what do you want in return?"

Sora didn't felt good at the presence of this guy, but he needed to find out what he was up to. Maybe that old guy told his plan to him and then he could tell it to the King. The King would know what to do with any situation.

_No catch, it's really simple: I want to unfold your true power in exchange for your loyalty to me._

"No way that I'm going to help you after what you did to Riku! Forget it!"

_I guess you need more time to think about my offer. I'll give you three days, and whatever happens in those days are your responsability for not accepting my very generous offer._

"I'll never accept your offer! I'll keep fighting you until the worlds are safe again!"

_We'll see about that, you have three days to tell me your answer. Mark my words Sora, your friends will fall within these three days. All because you didn't accept my offer. We'll continue our battle here within three days if you don't change your mind. And if you do accept, I'll give you a power that you couldn't even imagine. With that, you'll be able to you protect your dear friends._

"Oh yeah? And what do you win by that?"

_.. You have three days to accept my offer, see you soon._


	4. Fragile

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, all credits go to the game!**

Sora couldn't believe that the old man had disappeared! He didn't have any information for the King, the man didn't say what his plans were.  
He just said _'I want to unfold your true power in exchange for your loyalty to me'_ . Well, he could forget about that! What could that man be scheming?  
But there was no time to think about that now, his wounds needed care and it was still a long way to Merlin's house. He ripped a piece of his clothes and bound it around his leg and his arm before he started to hobble his way to his friends. The man definitely had a plan, Sora remembered him saying something like _'Don't forget this fight, because there will be more'_. There would be no time to hang around. Three days.. Did this old man really think that he would change his mind in three days? No way! They would defeat him with their own power! There has to be a weak spot in his defense, Sora just knew it.  
He looked at the sky: "I just need to find it."

When he got back at Merlin's, he was exhausted and his leg hurt like hell. But he didn't complain. On the way back, there was a trail of blood that he had followed.. Riku's blood. The moment he stepped inside, Kairi embraced him with watery eyes.  
She whispered in his ears: "I was so scared.. just don't do that again.. with Riku like this.. I thought you were.."

She didn't need to say more. Sora embraced her with his good right arm and knew she was right. If that old guy hadn't ran off, he would be in a worse shape than this. He looked over her shoulder at his friend. Aerith was putting all her effort in helping Riku. His friend looked pale but he would recover as always, Sora just knew it. Riku was a tough one.  
He whispered back in Kairi's ear: "We're not going down so easy, you can count on that."

Kairi's grip loosened and she let him go. A little smile appeared on her mouth and a tear rolled from her eye over her cheek.  
He caught the tear on her cheek with his thumb and said: "It'll be fine, really."

When Yuffie looked at Sora's wounds, she immediately said that she had to take care of them and Kairi turned to face Riku again. She began helping Aerith by refreshing the water and the towels that she had used. Sora was amazed of how she dealt with this situation. She really was strong. He looked again at his friend and he saw his shoulder covered in blood. That was the same attack that Sora had dodged by rolling on the floor.. Why didn't it hit him? Riku was always faster than him.. And now..

"Sora, can I speak to you outside?"

Leon looked cautious and Sora followed him outside. Leon looked at the sky and almost a minute passed by before he spoke.

"I'm not going to lie to you."  
"How is he? Will he be ok by tomorrow?"  
"It's a serious situation. He's got a high fever and his wounds.. Aerith is doing everything she can."  
"I know, it's just.. Riku is stronger than me. Why didn't that old man finish me off then?"  
"Tell me everything you know about him. It could help me find clues for the King."  
"Right.."

Sora began talking about their meeting with the black coats, but for some reason he didn't tell Leon about the deal that the old man offered him. He didn't know why, but he didn't want anyone to know that the man was interested in him. They wouldn't let him fight anymore and he needed to fight that man. For Riku. Leon listened carefully and when Sora was done talking, he looked at Sora.

"Sora, don't be reckless from now on."  
"I.. but I wasn't in time. If I had checked on him sooner.. Then this wouldn't.."  
"You couldn't do anything about it. You had your own fight. Just don't be reckless because of this."  
"But I need to catch that man! He did this to Riku! And he plans on doing more! I have to stop him!"  
"More? When did he say-"

Leon stopped talking because the front door had opened and Kairi came outside.  
She looked concerned while she said: "Is everything alright? I heard Sora yelling.."  
Leon looked at Kairi and asked: "Sorry for asking Kairi, but did you hear that man saying that there would be more fights like this?"  
"I.. I don't think so."

Leon looked at Sora, but he let it go for now. It had been a hard day.

"Ok, that'll be all then. I'll be taking the first watch on Riku. Sora, we need to talk about that later."  
"Fine."

Sora didn't want to talk about it, he wanted to do something. Not waiting around.  
Leon went inside and when the door closed, Kairi came to Sora. He was glad that she was her, on his other journey's there were only thoughts of her being safe so now he was glad that she was safe with him. She looked at him and he knew that she wanted to ask something.

"What's worrying you?"

She looked very cautious and finally said what was on her mind: "It's what Leon said.. Did you really hear that man say that there would be more of this? When did you hear that?"  
"Come on Kairi, you were with me all along. He said it right before we started fighting."  
"I know that you asked him what he was going to do with you, but I didn't hear him saying that."  
"But I.. He said that we needed to pay attention to this fight, because there would be more.."  
"… Maybe I didn't hear him."

Sora leaned against the wall. Nothing made any sense at all.

"I really don't know what's going on here.."  
"Me neither, but we'll get through this. Like you said, It'll be fine.."

Sora looked at her and he saw a scratch on her hand. He placed her hand in his and looked at it.

"When did you get that? Yuffie needs to take care of that."  
"It's nothing. And Yuffie is busy with Riku.. they need all the bandages they can get.."

He looked at her. All the bandages.. So Riku really was in a bad shape. Now he started worrying. What if _she_ got hurt like that in a battle? He didn't know if he'd survive that. He would protect her with his life. He embraced her. She was so strong, she handled so much in such a short time..

"He's going to be fine. And I won't let anything happen to you. Don't worry."  
"Promise?"  
"Promise."

It felt good to have her in his arms. The darkness could do whatever it wanted, but this moment was their moment. Although it couldn't last. They were brought back to reality when Sora heard that voice:

_Are you sure that you can promise her that?_

Sora looked around and loosened his grip on Kairi. He asked her: "Did you hear that?"  
She looked suprised and the voice talked again.

_No, she can't hear me. Only you can, and only because I want you to, Sora._

Sora looked at Kairi and it really seemed like she didn't hear anything. How was this possible?

_You know, your friend is my first statement. I will get what I want. Do you want her to get hurt next?_

Sora swung his arm in front of Kairi and said: "Don't you dare to even touch her!"

_I can touch what I want. Let's put it to the test. How's that leg of yours?_

Kairi didn't understand what was going on, to who was Sora talking? Suddenly an unversed appeared in front of them and Sora summoned his keyblade.

"You won't touch her, you hear me?"

Sora ran to the unversed and attacked it, but it dodged and hit his right leg, right where his wound was. A pain went through his leg. The pain came back and the new bandage started to turn red.

_Is that all you've got? I thought that you wouldn't let anything happen to her? Or was that a lie?_

"Just leave her alone, ok? I'm the one you want!"

Another unversed appeared next to Kairi. It didn't attack her, but just held on to her left arm.  
Sora didn't know if it was the adrenaline, but with one strike, the creature was gone. Then he faced the other one that had attacked his right leg and killed it in two strikes. But it already was too late anyway. That unversed had touched Kairi's left arm. The old man really did what he said, he should be more careful. Next time, he wouldn't let him do that. He needed to train harder.

_Well done boy, let that hate for me guide you. Tomorrow is the first day. See you soon, Sora.  
_  
When he was sure that the voice was gone, he gave in to the pain in his right leg. He nearly fell onto the ground, but Kairi catched him right on time. She put his arm around her neck for support.

"How did you know that they were coming?"

He didn't know what to say.. He knew that he could tell Kairi the truth, but would she be exposed to more danger if he told her? No, she would find out soon enough. Not tonight, he had to protect her. So he said: "I don't know. I just felt them coming.. Are you alright?"

She smiled at him, like nothing happened: "I'm fine. But you could've warned me. I have a keyblade too, you know. Let's get you some rest for now."

Sora nodded at her in agreement and they got inside. Kairi put Sora on a bed in the restroom.

"Thanks Kai, you should rest too."  
"I'll first get some soup for you, or you'll starve."

Sora's stomach grumbled by the thought of food. She was right, they didn't eat anything from the moment they got to Hollow Bastion. He just didn't think of that because of all the fighting.

"Soup sounds nice. I totally forgot about food!"  
"They say there's a first time for everything, I'll be right back."

After they ate their soup, Kairi left Sora in his bed and went to see if she could help Aerith. Sora laid himself on the bed and put his good right arm behind his head to look at the moon through the window. He thought about what the voice had said: _'Tomorrow is the first day'. _What was waiting for them tomorrow? Another trap? He thought about the man's offer. Riku and Kairi didn't knew about that. If he would do what the man asked him to, then his friends would be safe. But what did he have to do for that old man? And what did that man win by it? Why did he say that Riku was his first statement? Would he really hurt all his friends in these three days?

.. So many questions and no answers. Sora just hoped that Riku would be fine by tomorrow as he fell asleep.


	5. Awake and alive

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, all credits go to the game!**

Sora woke up from soft hands that shook him awake and he heard Kairi's voice: "Riku is awake!"  
A bit sleepy, he opened his eyes and saw the joy on her face. She was so beautiful when she smiled..

"Come on, sleepyhead! Just go and see for yourself, he's ok!"

Still a bit sleepy, Sora stood up from his bed and let Kairi lead him to Riku. When they entered the room, he couldn't be more happy to see his friend alive and well. Riku tried to sit up straight, but hissed when a shot of pain went through his body.

"You shouldn't be moving Riku, let your wounds heal."

Kairi tried to convince him, but in vain. Their friend already sat up straight. His leg, arm and torso were treated with bandages, but he seemed better than yesterday. Sora walked to him and gave him a smile while standing there with his hands behind his head: "Well, I almost thought you were a goner back there.."

"Hah, you don't get rid of me that easily."  
"I know. So, when can I kick your ass again?"

Riku looked at Aerith and she looked shocked: "You need to rest for another day before you can even stand, let alone fight. No fighting soon, I'm sorry Riku."  
"You're the doc, Aerith."  
"I'll go get some fresh bandages. Kairi, could you help me?"

Kairi nodded and they left the two boys alone in the room.  
Riku looked at Sora and asked the question where Sora really wanted to know the answer from: "Who was that man?"  
Sora took place next to Riku on the bed.

"I really don't know, never seen him before. But I'm pretty sure that he is the reason we're here. "  
"Yeah, we only need to find out what he wants to achieve."

The only thing was that Sora did know what that man wanted to achieve in these three days.. Should he tell Riku? Maybe he had some good advice.. No, he didn't want to expose his friend to more danger than he already had been through. Riku wouldn't admit it, but his bandages were already starting to show red spots on it. His wounds weren't healed yet.

"But now you need to rest, just leave them to me!"

Riku looked at Sora and saw that his leg also had a bandage.

"Your leg, did he do that to you?"  
"Yeah.. but he was holding back for some reason. He did the same attack that hit your shoulder."  
"I see.. Sora, just take care of Kairi. This guy is bad news, he's really fast."  
"I know. Just get a quick recovery, alright? Then we can defeat him together."  
"Will do. I'll be back in no time."

Suddenly the door swung open and Yuffie got in the room. She looked at Sora.

"Bad news. We've got a distress call from Leon, Kairi is already on the way. Let's go."  
"Right," Sora looked at Riku before he left the room, "Just rest, I'll take this one."

He followed Yuffie outside. Sora ran as fast as he could, Kairi already left! Could she handle this?

"What was Leon doing in the town anyway?"  
"Well, he went to check the situation in town. But apparently those creatures showed up again. It's nothing like Leon to send a distress call for something small.."

They went faster and got to the town. But the fight they saw was a high-leveled one. Leon was fighting against two black coats at the same time. It were the same coats from before, the one with the lances and the one with the arrowguns. Kairi was trying to get to Leon, but there were more and bigger unversed in her way. She couldn't handle them all to reach Leon in time. Sora immediately came into action and went to help Kairi.

"Well, I guess that you go backup Kairi while I help Leon. Nice strategy, Sora."

Yuffie began throwing her knifes at a couple of unversed that were in the way and jumped over the others towards Leon. She landed next to him in her battle pose.

"Help has arrived."  
Leon looked at Yuffie and said : "You take care of that one. The third one hasn't shown up yet."

Yuffie looked at the one with the arrowguns. This would be a fine match. They both attacked at a long distance, so she just needed to show that her skills were better than his.

"Do you mind telling me your name before you're going down?"  
"It's very rude to ask someone's name before you've introduced yourself, lady."  
"Is that so? Well, I'm Yuffie then."  
"Xigbar. It will be a pleasure to take you down, Yuffie. I normally don't fight ladies.."  
Yuffie threw a couple of her knifes at Xigbar: "One advice: don't let your guard down!"

They started charging at each other and dodged each other's attacks. The fight had begun.  
Meanwhile, Sora had reached Kairi. She just took an unversed out in one swing of her keyblade. Sora summoned his keyblade and began helping her out. But there was no end of them. For every unversed that they slayed, two others appeared. After a few minutes, Sora and Kairi stood with their back at each other. How would they get out of this? Maybe they could reach a higher ground.. Yeah, that should work! Sora looked around and saw the perfect spot.

He spoke to Kairi: "Kai, this isn't going to work. Let's get higher up, then we can get them all in one blast."  
"Ok, just lead the way."

Sora took Kairi's wrist and pulled her with him to the rock. Now they were ten foot above the ground. Perfect. Every unversed was defeated before it even got close to them. Sora looked at Leon and Yuffie's fight, it seemed that the fight had turned. The coats were backed in corners, it would be over soon. He started charging for an ultimate fire blast on all those unversed down there. But then an unversed grabbed Kairi's leg and pulled her down..

"Kairi!", Sora immediately grabbed her hand and held on to it. Now that he couldn't do that attack, he dismissed his keyblade and held on to Kairi with his two hands. The unversed wouldn't get her!  
"Just hold on Kairi! I'm going to pull you up!"

Sora tried to pull her up, but the unversed was still holding on to her leg. Kairi screamed in pain. Damn! As long as that thing held on to her, he wouldn't be able to pull her up without hurting her..

_Protecting that girl again?  
_  
No, not now! He couldn't deal with that old man if he had to hold on to Kairi like this..

"Coward! Are you letting your minions do all the dirty work?"

Kairi's expression turned from pain to fear as she looked at Sora's right side. The voice spoke again.

_Why would I be a coward? I'm here, aren't I?  
_  
A shiver walked through Sora's back. Was he here? He looked at his right side and there he stood, those yellow eyes of him were full of joy. He really enjoyed this.. What was he planning this time?

"Basterd. Let Kairi go!"

_Not yet. Let's watch the show first, shall we?_

"Show? What show?"

The old man pointed his right hand towards the battle from Leon and Yuffie. Something dark shot out of his hand and hit Sora's two comrades. The next moment Yuffie fell on her knees and a dark cloud covered her body. Leon also fell to the ground in pain. Yuffie was struggling, her hands took hold of her head as if she had a hell of a headache. Sora looked at his friends. What could he do for them?

_You see how powerless you are to save them?_

"Whatever you're doing, turn it off! If it's me you're after, fight _me_ then! Let my friends go!"

_That's the thing, I am after you. But this seems the only way that I can get through to you._

"Just.. let.. them.. go!"

Sora tried to pull Kairi up, but the unversed was still holding her leg. What should he do? If he stayed here, Leon and Yuffie would keep suffering. And if he let Kairi fall..

Suddenly the coats started moving again, but Yuffie and Leon didn't! That cloud seemed to paralyze them. No.. They wouldn't.. Would the coats attack a defenseless enemy? Not when he was here! The lances of the black coat started to aim at Leon. And the other one with the arrowguns charged again and aimed at Yuffie. Sora immediately came into action. He jumped after Kairi and kicked the unversed that was holding on to her on his head. He catched Kairi before she hit the ground, put her down and ran through the unversed to the coats. Kairi followed him. The coats were done aiming. They raised their hands and fired at their victims..

But both their attacks were blocked by a keyblade. Kairi had blocked all the red laser bullets towards Yuffie and Sora had blocked all the lances towards Leon. Right on time. The coats looked surprised at the old man on the cliff and disappeared. The old man had a weird smile on his face.

_Good job. I wouldn't expect less of you._

The old man also disappeared. Man, this was a close one but they made it. He turned to Leon who still had that dark aura covering his body. Sora reached for Leon's shoulder to help him, but something sharp slid in his hand. The aura around Leon and Yuffie disappeared immediately but now there was a black spot on Sora's hand. Sora screamed out in pain. It hurt so much! What was this kind of magic? His hand ached like someone had put a thousand needles in it. What could this mean? Kairi immediately ran towards him: "Sora! Are you alright?"  
From the moment that Kairi touched him, the pain seemed to vanish. He stood up. But when Kairi let him go, the awful pain came again. Sora suppressed it and went to Leon. He helped him up and laid Leon's arm around his neck to support him. Kairi still looked concerned. Sora's breath wasn't normal.

"I'm fine.. Let's head back."  
But suddenly Kairi's voice yelled his name: "Sora! Watch out!"

But it was too late, a shadow had appeared in front of them and Sora didn't notice it in time. A scream of pain. Drops of blood landed on Sora's face. It was that old man again. When Sora looked down, it wasn't his chest that was hit.. It was Leon's.. The old men's keyblade had pierced Leon's whole body and came out of his back. Blood was dripping on the floor.. Could this be real?

No, it couldn't! Leon's legs turned numb and Sora felt his grip loosening. The blade was pulled out of Leon's chest and more blood escaped the fresh wound. So much blood.. Leon needed help, right now! Sora laid Leon on the floor and supported his head. Sora tried to stop the bleeding with his free hand.. Just a flesh wound.. Nothing serious.. Leon had been through worse fights than this..

"You're going to be fine, just a flesh wound.. Aerith will take care of you, just like she did with Riku."  
Leon looked at Sora and laid his hand on Sora's. When he spoke, he sounded out of breath: "Sora.. just.. take care of.. Yuffie.. for me.."

Why would he say that? It couldn't be that he was.. No way! That would not happen! Not now..

"Don't say that! You can take care of her yourself when we have patched you up!"  
"Just.. promise.. ok?"

Sora couldn't believe this, was Leon really giving up? From who would he get advice? Who would contact the King? .. Who would always be there for him.. when Leon was gone?

"You can't go.. Don't leave us with this mess! It isn't over yet! Hold on to the end! Don't give up.."  
"I'm.. sorry.."

With those words, Leon's hand fell on the ground and a tear rolled from Sora's cheeks. This was not happening. It could not be happening.. It just couldn't..

"No Leon, don't leave us! We need you! Leon!" But Leon didn't react anymore.  
"No! Leon! Come back! Leon! .."

Sora looked at the man who did this. He had been watching all this time.. smiling.. Sora hated that man with every bone in his body. Why did he do this? Just for fun? This was no ordinary man, it was the devil in disguise. Sora laid Leon carefully on the ground before he turned to the old man.

"You're going to pay for what you did!"

_Is that so? Great, challenge me. That weakling wasn't even worth the effort.._

"Basterd! Don't talk about Leon like that!"

_Then show me your revenge! Let me feel your despair!_

Sora summoned his keyblade and the pain in his hand became worse, but he ignored it. This one was for Leon. He couldn't let that man get away again. No one talked about Leon like that! Sora started charging at the man and the pain in his hand was increasing. It went through his arm, straight to his haert. Something cracked in him. His haert seemed to fail.. He laid his attack on the man, but it was blocked. The old men laughed. Sora's legs went numb and he fell on his knees in front of the man. Those yellow eyes stared at him from above and he heard that voice, as calm as always..

_In two days from now, you'll be mine. Mark my words, Sora. If you wait too long, more of your friends will suffer. Maybe not by your hand, but by your ignorance.  
I don't like to be kept waiting._

That was the last thing Sora heard before everything around him turned black.

**Oh no! What now? :p well, let's wait for the next chapter!  
btw, someone asked me if the voice was Vanitas. Actually, I wrote the story with the idea that it was Xehanort ('old man' also refers to him).  
****But maybe it's more fun if you think it's Vanitas, let your imagination do the trick! :D  
PS: I don't know if you guys noticed, but every title is a song that matches the chapter (or I think it does).. **


	6. Castle of glass

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, all credits go to the game!**

When Sora woke up, he laid in a small bed, covered with warm blankets. Rays of moonlight entered the room through the window.  
He wondered what had happened after he lost consciousness. When he looked next to him, he saw Kairi sitting in a chair, sleeping. The fight had been around noon, would she really have stayed by his side all that time? He looked at her and could only admire his friend. She looked so peaceful while she slept that he almost felt like they were back on the Islands. Sleeping in the sand, dreaming away by the sound of the waves that rolled on that beautiful beach.

But they weren't at the Islands anymore. Sora sighed and a tear rolled over his cheek, but he didn't care. Could Aerith have saved Leon or was he..  
He didn't dare to ask, because if he would, then it was a fact.

He looked at his hand and the black spot had vanished. What was that back there? The pain had spread to his haert.. What would that mean? Sora hated it, that man didn't even gave them time to recover from their previous wounds. He suddenly remembered the exact words of the old man: '_If you wait too long, more of your friends will suffer. Maybe not by your hand, but by your ignorance.'_

Sora looked at his hands. Could he accept that deal? He didn't know and looked back at Kairi who was still asleep. How could he ever see her getting hurt? And when he accepted that deal, she would be safe. He sat up straight and went out of his bed silently. He didn't want to wake Kairi up.

As he got closer to the door of Leon's room, he slowed his pace. Would he be strong enough to look inside? He held his hand on the doorknob. It was as if time stood still. What would he do? If he opened it and Leon wouldn't be in there.. He let go of the doorknob. He didn't want to know the truth. He slowly backed away from the door and walked to the front door. Once he was outside, he sat on the floor with his back against the wall and his left arm supported on his left knee.

He looked up at the stars. Everything seemed so peaceful.. All the worlds looked so quiet. He stayed there, watching the stars. When the stars disappeared with the night, he looked at the rising sun. The rays of light woke up the sleeping world. The second day had begun. A palette of colors painted the clear sky. How could nature be so beautiful when the world was so wrong? He looked at his hand and the black spot was back. Would he tell the others? He didn't have much time to think about that, the front door opened and Kairi stepped outside. She looked relieved when she saw Sora sitting on the floor.

But then her expression turned to concern when she asked: "How long have you been out here?"  
"A while."  
She came sitting next to him and it was comforting to have her here. A minute passed. Sora held his two hands together and said to her: "I went to his room, but I couldn't open it. I don't know if I can handle it to know what's happened to him.. such a vital point.. and so much blood.."  
Kairi looked at her friend and said: "Sora.."  
Sora knew that she would tell him the news, good or bad, and looked her in the eyes. She looked at the ground.

"Leon is in a coma. Aerith stabilized him, but his haert is very weak.."  
"So he's fine for now?"  
"Sora.. he.. we don't know if he is able to wake up. From the looks of it, he seems to be in a deep sleep and he needs to get out of it on his own strength.. And if he does wake up, we don't know if he'll be fine. He lost a lot of blood. That could've caused more damage than we know.."  
".. Right"

So actually Leon really wasn't fine at all. But he was still in this world. Sora just needed to trust the will power of his friend. Would he go to that old men to accept that deal? Maybe that was the only way to keep Kairi and Riku safe.. But then he needed to do what that old man ordered him to..  
Sora didn't know what to do anymore, his confidence started to fade.

"Sora, how's your hand?"  
"My hand? Fine, why do you ask?"  
"It's just.. When you touched Leon, all of that black aura went to your hand.. and when you attacked that man, you.. it was.. it started covering your arm. Beginning from your hand."  
"It did?"

So that was what he felt earlier, the dark aura that spread to his haert came from that black spot. And it started spreading from the moment that he had summoned his keyblade..

"You need Aerith to take a look at that, it isn't fine at all."  
"No I'm fine, it's not a wound and Aerith has Leon to take care of."  
"I got a bad feeling about this, Sora."  
"Kai, I'll be fine. Don't worry so much, it was just an attack from that man to get away."  
"But-"  
"Let's get inside, the others should already be awake by now."

Sora hated it to cut her off like that, but if he said the truth.. then she would be much more worried than she was now. He stood up and helped Kairi up. He wouldn't take that deal, he would defeat the man on his own strength. He just needed to practice and then everything would be alright. He looked at the sky one last time before they went back into the house, hoping to come up with a plan.

When they got inside, Sora went to Riku's room and was glad to see that his friend was already awake. Riku sat on his bed and seemed to be healing well. Sora took a chair and seated himself next to Riku's bed while Kairi placed herself on the end of Riku's bed. Sora looked serious.

"We need to come up with a plan."  
Riku immediately agreed and said: "But for that we need to know what that guy is after."  
"Yeah, we'll check Cid's data again, maybe there's a link", said Kairi.

Sora looked at the ground. Should he tell them? They would find out soon enough anyway..

Kairi went on: "And we can split them up in a fight, then they can't count on each other anymore. And maybe we'll have the control instead of walking in the traps of that old man. It could give us a bit more chance in winning this. But that old man is no joke, who's going to fight with him?"  
Riku looked at Sora's wounds and then at his own bandages. He laughed: "It seems that you dodged that man's attacks better than me. And back at the Islands, I said that _your_ footwork was slow.."  
"Hah, don't mind about that! And you aren't supposed to fight, you need to recover one more day."  
"I heal better than Aerith knows, so don't mind about me. And if I take on one of his minions it shouldn't be that hard. What about you, Kairi?"  
"Me? I guess I get that guy from before. I think I can deal with him if I focus a bit more."  
"You sound like a true keyblade master already. So Sora takes on the big guy? You sure about that?"

Should he tell them now of the man's interest in him? He wouldn't be killed, just for that reason.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. But I need to practice a bit more. I think I'll go to Merlin's practice room today."  
"Alright, then we'll work on a strategy. Knock yourself out."

Sora thought about the situation before going to practice. Riku was that man's first statement, he had touched Kairi with an unversed and Leon was in a coma. He was just showing what he's capable of. And now Sora had to show him what he was capable of. But what was his weak spot? Sora played their battles over in his head. He always used those minions of him, but he always made his statement himself. So he was always there. But how could he stop him? The furniture started moving and the training had begun. He summoned his keyblade and his hand immediately started aching. It turned black and the darkness crawled up his arm. He dismissed his keyblade and the darkness withdrew. What was that all about? Suddenly a voice spoke..

_Well well, I think you're almost ready now.._

Sora looked around, but there was no one in the room. He wouldn't be so nervous if the furniture wasn't moving, so he dismissed the training and saw a man standing in the shadow on the other side of the room. Sora couldn't see who it was, but it was that voice again.

"What are you doing here? How did you even get in here? Unnoticed?"

_Well, what can I say? It wasn't that big of a deal. Now let me see that hand of yours._

"I don't care what you did with it, just get out of here!" Sora summoned his keyblade again and the darkness in his hand started spreading again. It hurt less than before.

_You're already changing, the dark power is doing its work. It won't take much longer now._

"What do you mean by dark power? What have you done to me?"

_I've unlocked a small fraction of your true power._

"What does that even mean? You make no sense at all!"

_The man grinned at him and disappeared in the shadows. Sora ran towards the spot._

"Wait, coward! Come back here!"

_Better hurry Sora, or you'll never see Yuffie again.._

"What? Get real!"

But the voice didn't answer anymore and Sora ran out of the room in search for Yuffie. You never know when that man speaks the truth.. He came downstairs and saw Aerith making lunch.

"Hey Aerith, have you seen Yuffie around?"  
"Yeah, she left a couple of minutes ago. She said that she needed to take care of some things first."

Sora had a bad feeling about this..

"Really? Where did she go?"  
"I think that she went to that place from before. Where that man injured Leon."

This wasn't fine at all! Sora immediately called out to Kairi and Riku. They didn't know why he had to check on Yuffie but they went with him anyway. Aerith called Riku back, but he said that he would be fine and the three friends left Merlin's house to search for Yuffie._  
_

**Yeah you read it! Leon isn't dead yet! I couldn't let him die that easily ;)**


	7. So cold

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, all credits go to the game!**

"Sora, what's going on? We aren't ready yet!"

Kairi tried to keep up with him. Sora looked in concern at Riku, but he looked fine with running.

He turned to Kairi: "I can't explain now, but Yuffie is in danger."  
"In danger? How can you know that? She just went out to get her mind straight.."  
"Just trust me in this, ok? That man is after Yuffie and I don't want anyone to get hurt anymore!"

They kept running and were almost at the place where Leon was stabbed by that man's keyblade. Sora couldn't help but feel like a toy that was summoned to play a game.  
When they finally got there, the space was empty. No Yuffie to be found. They stopped and Riku seemed to be in pain from all the running. Sora hoped that Riku's wounds weren't reopening.

"She should be here.. where is she?"  
"Sora, are you sure that.."  
"Where is she?"

Suddenly, a black portal opened right before them and the old man slowly appeared with Yuffie. His hand was holding her throat and she floated some inches above the ground, struggling and trying to catch her breath. But the old man tightened his grip on her.

_You took the bait. I see you brought your friends along. Wrong decision._

With one swing of his free hand, the old man used an invisible force to smack Riku at the nearest wall. Then Kairi was knocked against the other wall in a blink of the eye. It all happened so fast. Sora looked at his friends and saw a drop of blood rolling out of Kairi's mouth.

"Kairi! Are you alright? Talk to me!"

She lifted her head a bit and she looked in pain but answered him nonetheless: "I'm.. fine, silly."  
"Stay there, ok? I'll take care of him."  
"Just.. Get him."

Sora turned to the old man. Yuffie passed out and the old man threw her against a rock. His interest for her seemed to be gone now that he had what he wanted.

"Basterd! At least tell me your name before I defeat you!"  
"I thought you'd never ask, I'm the great master Xehanort. And I already know who you are, boy. You are Sora, the talented Keyblade wielder, savior of all the worlds and protector of the keyholes that connect the worlds. And soon.. you'll also be my new and last vessel."  
"Vessel? Never!"

Sora summoned his keyblade and he felt the black aura crawling through his arm again. Only this time, it didn't hurt at all. It felt good actually.

"Still resisting while your body already succumbs? Too bad.." Xehanort also summoned his keyblade.  
"Just shut up and fight!"

Sora started attacking, but Xehanort swiftly dodged all of his attacks. He felt the black aura growing and it gave him strength. But Xehanort was still faster. Suddenly, a black orb hit Sora and restricted his movements. He was bound by a shadow on the ground. Sora saw how Riku tried to lay an attack at Xehanort's back, but Xehanort sent another black orb at Riku. Ropes appeared around him and his face showed a painful emotion. Red spots were starting to show on his clothes, meaning that his wounds were reopened. Xehanort controlled the black ropes around Riku and smiled at Sora.

"Is this your revenge?"

He made a sign with his hands and the ropes around Riku tightened a bit more. Riku didn't scream, but he looked like he was going through hell. Then Xehanort turned his attention to Yuffie. With that force of him, he let her float above the ground and laid her down right in front of Sora who still couldn't move. What would he do now? And why couldn't he move?

"What are you planning? Let them go!"  
"Do you remember my deal?" Xehanort summoned his black keyblade and aimed it at Yuffie's haert.  
"What? You wouldn't! Don't! She's got nothing to do with this! Let her go!"  
"That depends on you. If you accept, I won't hurt her."  
"I.."  
"Too slow, boy."

Xehanort raised his keyblade and Sora felt adrenaline running through his whole body. What would he tell Leon if Yuffie would get hurt? Leon entrusted him to watch over her! He just wouldn't, no he couldn't let anything happen to her! He needed to be stronger to defeat this guy. He stopped thinking and let that black aura take over control. It went further through his body, forcing his legs to move and he stopped Xehanort's keyblade right on time. He looked in Xehanort's eyes.

"Don't ever try that again! I'm your opponent!"

He charged and fired a fire blast at Xehanort before drawing him in a corner. Their blades hit multiple times and Xehanort started to show the black aura too, but it was much denser than that of Sora.

"You already have it under your control.. Impressive."

He attacked so hard that Sora had to back down. Then Xehanort pointed a finger to Kairi who was slightly conscious and she was pulled towards him. As a hostage, Kairi was placed between Xehanort and Sora with Xehanort's keyblade at her neck. It happened so fast and Sora couldn't do anything about it. Those yellow eyes were full of frightening joy when Xehanort smiled at Sora.

"Your precious princess of haert.."

Xehanort let his hand run over Kairi's cheek.

"Don't you touch her!"  
"I can do what I want. Well Sora," Xehanort tightened his grip, "Accept the deal and she lives."  
"Don't do what he says! I don't know what this deal is, but it can be no good!"

Kairi tried to get away from Xehanort's grip but it was no use.

_If she doesn't shut up soon, then she's gone for.._

"No, don't! I.. I'll.. I'll do what you ask from me, just don't hurt her!"

Sora couldn't do a thing. Riku was tied up, Yuffie passed out and Kairi was in the hands of that despicable man.. That man just didn't have any weak spots. Sora really was backed into a corner. What choice did he have?

_So, you've finally come to your senses._

"No! Sora, don't! I'll be fine!"

_Say that you'll accept the deal and this will all be over._

".. but the deal says that you don't hurt her or any of my friends anymore. Right?"

_They'll all be left alone if they don't get in the way._

He turned to Kairi: "Kai, I've got no other choice.. I won't let you get hurt because of me.."  
"What? Sora you can't mean this! Don't do it! We know that this is dangerous and it's our own choice! Whatever this deal is, it isn't solving anything!"  
"I'm so sorry. Don't make it harder than it already is.."

Sora suppressed the feelings that told him this was the wrong decision. He hoped that Kairi could forgive him. He just had no other choice.. He didn't want anyone to end up like Leon, his friends were everything to him.. So he did what he had never thought he would do. He turned to Xehanort and said: "I accept the deal."

_That wasn't that hard, was it? But a deal is always sealed when you shake each other's hand._

Xehanort let Kairi loose and she couldn't move, she was bound by another shadow on the ground just like Sora before. He approached Sora and held his hand forth.

Sora looked at Kairi, who was struggling to move, he looked at Riku who was watching this whole scenery with understanding but fear. Riku would've done the same thing to save them. Then he looked at Xehanort and reached for his hand. When their hands touched, a pain like none before shot through Sora's haert. He tried to let the hand go, but the grip was tight and he couldn't do anything. He screamed and fell on his knees. He couldn't think anymore, his brain hurt like hell, his body burned from the inside and he didn't have any control of his limbs anymore.

He didn't see that Kairi was calling out his name.

He didn't see that Riku tried to get out of his ropes to help him.

Neither that Xigbar had shown up to carry him on his shoulder through a black portal.

He was just falling.. and the only thing he saw was darkness.

**Yeah.. I kind of let him agree the second day already :s but hey, Xehanort has to be frightening, doesn't he?**


	8. Keep your head up

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, all credits go to the game!**

What had just happened?

One moment, they had been fighting and then things had stopped making any sense at all.. Kairi couldn't move. And it wasn't because she was being held back, she just couldn't believe what had happened in front of her.. She stared at the spot where Sora had been only a moment ago.

He was gone. He had disappeared in one of those black portals. Unconscious. Although he said that he wouldn't go down so easily.. He had disappeared again.. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up at Riku. He tried to keep his cool, but his face looked kind of sad.

"We need to take care of Yuffie, let's go."

Kairi couldn't say anything, so she nodded at him and they carried Yuffie at Merlin's house. No one said anything along the way. They didn't encounter any unversed. It just wasn't right.

When they arrived at the house, Aerith immediately took care of Yuffie and Riku explained what had happened. Kairi could only watch them. An hour passed. Her mind was empty, nothing crossed her mind, nothing caught her attention, just nothing mattered anymore. Why did this have to happen? They fought three against one and still..  
Her hands formed fists. Why did he have to do that? She didn't even have a clue if he was alive or not. What could they do now? She still saw Sora's expression when he had touched Xehanort's hand.. Full of fear and pain. She held back her tears and went outside. Riku saw her going outside and followed her.

"Are you alright?"  
".."

Kairi didn't know what she could say. Was she alright? If someone else was in her shoes, would that person be alright? When someone you care about just got taken away in front of you, are you able to say that you're alright? The one person you care for the most.. just gone. Like it was nothing..

"He'll come back, just like he always does. Somehow, he'll manage."

Kairi didn't know if Riku was just convincing himself or that he tried to make her less worried. How could they know that he was fine? They didn't even know what Xehanort wanted from him..

"I just need a moment alone."

Kairi walked away and Riku watched her, he knew where she was going and he let her go.

With every step she took, her body wanted to go faster. She started running, her body moved on its own and she could only go along with it. But then she suddenly stopped. She stood at the spot where he had disappeared. She catched her breath. Her fists were starting to hurt from her nails that dug in her flesh. If she would've been stronger, this would never have happened..

_Sora.. Where are you? It's like I'm alone on the Destiny Islands again.. You finally came back to me after that journey and now.. now you're gone again.. And it's all my fault.. If only I wouldn't have been the reason that you agreed to that deal, this would be easier. I think.._

She couldn't hold back the tears anymore and started crying. His terrified screams were imprinted in her memory and she could still hear them as if he was screaming right in front of her..

_That stupid deal! You promised that you wouldn't give up! Why did you do it then? This hasn't solved anything! Why did you leave us? Why did you leave.. me?_

She fell on her knees and let the tears run down her cheeks. This wasn't right.. This made no sense..

She yelled at the sky: "Just come back! You hear me? This isn't funny!"

But the sky didn't move, the rocks didn't shatter and the birds just flew over like they always do.. More tears appeared and she covered her face with her hands.

_What can I do? What can a simple girl like me do? How can I reach you? I don't have any clue of what to do anymore. You have always been there to guide my way through all of this. But now you're gone, just like that..  
_  
She whispered: "Find me.. Like you always do.."

Another hour had passed, and she couldn't cry anymore. All of her tears were gone. She reached for her good luck charm and a small smile appeared. She giggled at the memory of him returning it to her. He looked so happy then.. Well, being a friend of Sora wasn't as easy as she thought, but it sure was worth it. She put away her good luck charm.

"I guess that you're the one who needs to be saved this time. Now's my time to return that favor."

She stood up and looked at the sky. This wasn't the time to be crying, she had to have faith and give everything she had. They would find him, or he would find them. In any case, she wouldn't give up. That was something she learned from being a keyblade wielder. Even if your opponent's powers are far greater than yours, it's the strength of your haert that counts. A strong heart has a strong ability to make bonds with either their keyblade or other people. And if her heart was really connected with his heart, then they would definitely meet again. Sooner or later. This was the time to let them all see that she had trained under the great wizard Yen Sid and Phil. Now was her time to show that she wasn't just some helpless girl that needed to be saved.

"I'll see you soon, Sora. Wait for me."


	9. Crawling in the dark

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, all credits go to the game!**

He opened his eyes and saw an old man standing next to him, he was staring with a pair of weird yellowgold eyes. The old man grinned. The boy himself was laying on a ground covered by sand in open air and felt exhausted. When he tried to sit up straight, it felt like he was using his muscles for the first time, they felt heavy as lead. What was he doing here?

"Where am I?"  
"You're at the keyblade graveyard. A fading memory of the past."

The boy looked around, and saw more than a thousand keyblades pinned on the ground. It seemed to be a desert of old and rusted keyblades, who were definitely not fitted to fight anymore. Why was he here? But more important..

"Who am I?"  
"You're now one of the thirteen seekers of darkness, a creature of my making named Vanitas."

The boy felt weird, would he be satisfied by this answer? He felt such an emptiness in his chest that he couldn't stand it. What was his purpose in this world? How could he fill this empty feeling?

"I'm Master Xehanort and you'll become whole if you do as I say."  
"I'll become.. Whole?"

Vanitas' attention was now on Xehanort. If this man knew how to make this empty feeling go away, then it was worth doing what he said.. Xehanort turned towards the keyblades.

"Behold. These lifeless keys used to be full of power, united with the haerts of their masters. On this barren soil, keyblades of light and darkness were locked in combat.. As the great keyblade war raged. Countless keyblade wielders gave up their life in search for the one, ultimate key. The -blade."

Xehanort turned towards Vanitas who stood up.

"And you're a part of it. That's why you feel empty. Your haert can't wait to reunite with the other parts of the ultimate key. This is your sole purpose in this life."

Vanitas thought about it. What if this man was right? Then he could make this bad feeling go away..

"Can you already see it? Darkness covered the world once, in legend. We know so little about the Keyblade War, only that it was just the beginning. Amidst the crisis a precious light was found. It is a curious tale, and one worth exploring. They say ruin brings about creation. So what would another Keyblade War bring? When the darkness falls, will we be found worthy of the precious light the legend speaks of? I must have these answers. The -blade needs to be forged, and with it, the door to the Keyblade War unlocked!"

Xehanort turned back towards Vanitas.

"Will you become whole again and help me find the answers I seek, Vanitas?"

Vanitas didn't hesitate, it was his purpose and this man could help him with it.

"Just tell me what to do."

Xehanort smiled at his new creation. This time, it might actually work..

"You only need to gather the other parts of the ultimate key."  
"And who are we talking about? How will I know where to look?"  
"There are seven of them, all bearing a keyblade. You only need to find four more. I'll take care of the seventh one and the other two are already within our grasp. You'll find them at various worlds: Twilight Town, Hollow Bastion and last but not least, one in the world of darkness. Defeat them and bring them here, if necessary by force."  
"And how will I defeat them?"

Xehanort laughed and turned to Vanitas: "I guess I forgot to tell you that you have a keyblade of your own. And no worry, your skills are at a higher level than them. I took care of that, you won't lose."

Vanitas held out his hand and tried to imagine how a keyblade would look like and how it would feel to fight with it. When this man was right, then he himself would soon turn into a keyblade himself. Is that really what he wanted? To be owned by someone and used for battle? He just wanted to be whole, that's all. Something was missing, something that he forgot or lost along the way.. If he did what this man told him, than he could be a little closer to the answer.

"I'll first go to the depths of darkness."  
"Do as you wish, you can travel by summoning portals of darkness to where you want to go. I'll tell you some tricks to fight better."

And so, Vanitas got some advice from Xehanort about what he was capable of with the dark power that was in his might. These tricks were dirty, but they meant a quick victory.

"Hurry Vanitas, I don't like to be kept waiting."

And so, Vanitas began his mission to gather four of the seven keybearers by summoning a black portal. When he stepped out of it, he stood behind his first target. She didn't notice him and kept wandering around. It looked like she had been here for a very long time. Vanitas didn't hesitate and sent a black orb to her back with his keyblade. She was surprised and the attack hit her. She jumped out of reach and looked cautious. She had short, blue hair and a blue outfit.

"What do you want from me?"

Vanitas was kind of disappointed that she didn't immediately summoned her keyblade.

"Let's fight. Summon your keyblade."  
"Do you even know who I am?"  
"It doesn't matter. You already lost."  
"We haven't even started! I'm the keyblade Master Aqua and I won't lose to you!"

Now she summoned her blue keyblade and attacked him with a combo attack from magic and strength. Vanitas looked bored and dodged it like it was nothing. She attacked again, but now faster. Vanitas blocked it and all her following attacks. Aqua was getting tired and her strength weakened with every attack. Was it because of the darkness? She kept her distance from him. He had blocked all of her attacks but he didn't even show a drop of sweat. What was going on?

"I think you already noticed. You already lost before you even began."

What did he mean by that? Aqua thought about the fight, but he hadn't attacked her even once or maybe.. The black orb at the beginning! He had hit her back!

"I'm draining your power, you'll soon pass out and I'm only getting stronger."

Aqua had never heard of that kind of attack and didn't know how she had to reverse it, so she just improvised and hoped that it would be of some help. She had to use that attack..

"Well, then I have to defeat you with this last blow.."

Aqua charged her power for her ultimate combo of light. It was a combination of ice magic, thunder magic and strength. She started showing a white aura and started her attack. She was halfway when her power suddenly disappeared. And she hit the boy with a normal keyblade attack.

"I told you you're too late."  
"No.. I.. It was.."  
"It's no use, just sleep already."

Aqua couldn't believe that she would actually lose to this kid. But she lost strength in her legs and had to admit her defeat. The last power that she had, left her and she passed out.

"Well, that's one of four."

Vanitas lifted her up and laid her on his shoulder. He summoned a black portal to the Keyblade graveyard to give her to Master Xehanort and hoped that he would soon get rid of this bad feeling in his chest. Only three more to go.

**Hey everyone! I get the feeling that this chapter went way too fast, but I don't want to make the story too long and there are a lot of things that still wander my fantasy for this story, so I hope you can forgive me!**

Thanks for reading! :D


	10. Up in the air

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, all credits go to the game!**

Vanitas came out of a black portal and stood in front of a station. The sky was coloured in orange and red at the sunset. His second target wasn't so simple as it seemed at first sight. He entered the giant clock tower that stood near the station and went all the steps up to see someone sitting on the edge of the clock tower.

"Keyblade wielder, let's fight."  
The red-haired man turned around to see a man in full-fledged armor. He seemed to think a while before saying: "The name's Lea. Say, what's with the attitude?"  
"Nothing, I just want to fight you that's all."  
The redhead seemed to think a while: "I can't help it, but it feels like I know you.."  
"Just fight me already, I'm here to win from you."  
The redhead laughed: "You think you can beat me?"  
"I wouldn't suggest it if I didn't."  
"Let's find out, shall we?"

Axel immediately jumped up. This boy seemed familiar, but who was he? Just his presence put him at ease.. Axel was probably just imagining it. He wanted to end it already, who did this guy think he was? Axel always won a fight. He had only lost once or twice.. But that was with Roxas.

"Ready for this?"

Axel jumped off the clock tower on the plaza and Vanitas followed. Then a wall of fire surrounded the two and there was nothing else but the two of them in a ring of fire, it was Axel's trademark. He could do anything with fire and he would definitely use it against his opponents. Vanitas summoned his keyblade and answered Axel's previous question: "I'm as ready as can be!"

Axel smiled and summoned his own keyblade that he only recently got in his possession, this would be a bit of training for him with his new weapon. He would show the stranger wath he was capable of. Vanitas attacked Axel from the front and Axel blocked every hit. Axel let a wall of fire surround himself and Vanitas could barely avoid it in time. When the wall around Axel was gone, he immediately fired a fireball at Vanitas who disappeared into thin air. Axel was confused and got hit by Vanitas on his back. He turned around and they both attacked each other from the front. Then Vanitas disappeared again and hit Axel from above. Axel went furious.

"Two can play that game!"

And he walked in the wall of fire that still surrounded them. Vanitas stood in the middle of the circle of fire and he let the darkness take over control. A black aura surrounded him and his senses became stronger and faster. He heard Axel's heartbeat and he avoided all Axel's following attacks. He felt that Axel was almost out of energy and then Vanitas did something unexpected. He walked in the firewall himself and almost immediately, the fire started turning black. Axel fell out of his own wall of fire that was now being controlled by darkness.

"How can you.. What have you done to my fire? It's damn black!?"

Vanitas didn't answer, but a black orb came out of the wall in the direction of Axel. Axel avoided it, but there was another one. And another one. And another. Finally, he couldn't avoid it and he blocked one of the orbs. But instead of disappearing, it exploded and turned into ropes that bound Axel. He couldn't move anymore! Vanitas stepped out of the wall of black fire while watching Axel.

"Well, I think you're kind of defeated.."  
"But that was cheating! You used my own fire against me! Who are you damn it? I never lose! Show me your face! Maybe.. are you.. Roxas? Is that you?"  
"Roxas? Never heard of him, I'm Vanitas."  
Axel turned furious: "Who are you damn it? Let me go already! You already won.."  
"I already told you, I'm Vanitas and I'm taking you with me."

Vanitas touched Axel's forehead and Axel fell asleep. It was easy after all, Vanitas lifted Axel and laid him over his shoulder to carry him to Master Xehanort.

"If they're all that easy-going then this shouldn't take too long anymore."

Vanitas didn't know why, but his chest felt so empty that it started hurting. The bad feeling didn't go away, he had to hurry. If Xehanort was right, then he would soon get rid of the feeling when he finished collecting the keyblade wielders. Unfortunately, he couldn't help but notice that with every keyblade wielder he caught, the bad feeling in his chest grew bigger and started to hurt more. He held his hand on his chest. If he would have to endure that feeling any longer, it would crush him. It was irritating, like his haert was in a battle with himself.. But there was no time to think about that, the sun was already setting. He had wasted a day on these two and he had to get two more of them. So he summoned a black portal and brought the second target to the Master.

~~A while later~~

It was already night and the moon lit the path in front of Vanitas. He summoned a couple of unversed and sent them in the town. He smiled. They would hopefully stir things up a bit. If there were any keyblade wielders nearby, then they couldn't help but fight the unversed before they did a lot of damage. And he was right, a minute later, the town's alarm was set off and two people got out of a house nearby. It was a boy with long, white hair and a girl with short, ravenblack hair. They started attacking the unversed and the boy used a keyblade. The girl used knives, so that wasn't the second keyblade wielder in this town. Vanitas sent another load of unversed and gave them the purpose to split the keyblade wielder and the girl up. The unversed did what they were told and Vanitas himself followed the group with the white-haired boy. He was a good fighter, a lot of unversed were slayed by his keyblade and he wasn't hit one time by them. This was a worthy opponent. Vanitas told the unversed to come back and they dissolved in a black smoke cloud that Vanitas absorbed with his hand. The boy looked confused until he saw Vanitas. His guard was immediately back up and he took on his battle pose again.

"Who are you?", asked the white-haired boy.  
"I'm your opponent."  
"That's all I need to know."

Riku started charging and Vanitas couldn't help but feel excitement, why was that?  
Vanitas blocked Riku's magic flames attack and disappeared in thin air before attacking Riku in his back. But Riku blocked his attack and used an ice magic attack at Vanitas who dodged it with an unhuman speed and threw two evenly large black orbs back. Riku started dodging by jumping upwards but he bumped into Vanitas' keyblade in the air with his own keyblade and black ropes came out of Vanitas' blade, surrounding Riku. But before Vanitas could crush Riku on the floor, Riku froze the ropes and broke them to get free. He escaped nearly in time. Vanitas turned around and hit Riku with a black flame before hitting Riku's arm with his keyblade. They both landed on the floor. Vanitas turned at Riku and looked at where he had hit. There was a small scratch in Riku's clothes and arm. Vanitas was more excited than before. This was a real fight!

"You're good, but not good enough."  
Riku turned towards the masked boy in armor and said: "We'll see. This has only started."  
"Thanks for the good fight, but it ends here. I can't waste anymore time."

Vanitas summoned the darkness and it engulfed around the two of them like a bubble of dark, suffocating smoke. Riku started coughing, there was no oxygen in this cloud of darkness and it didn't help that he felt his powers leave his body. What was he supposed to do now?

"Well, I think it's over for you. Let's fight again some time."

Riku didn't want to give up, but his powers were being drained by this cloud of darkness.

"I -cough- won't lose -cough- to you!"

Then suddenly, a helmet appeared in front of him and a finger touched his head.

"How can you fight when your power is gone? It's over now."

Riku couldn't move anymore, his legs turned numb and he knew it was over. What was that boy? With that one finger, he made all Riku's strength disappear.. Riku fell asleep and didn't see that the cloud of smoke was dissolving in a thousand little lights that flew up to the sky.. But he could hear a voice.. A female voice that said: "Riku! Hold on!"

It was Kairi.

**So, that was the tenth chapter! Finally Vanitas and Kairi meet for the first time!**


	11. Do I wanna know?

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, all the credits go to the game!**

Right when Vanitas thought it was over, something changed his dark orb trap in a thousand little lights that flew off to the sky. He couldn't believe what he saw. It was a girl that ran towards his defeated opponent and she was trying to wake the white haired boy. But it was no use, the boy was asleep and he could only be released of this dark sleep when Vanitas would want him to. The girl had beautiful scarlet hair that seemed to glow a bit in the soft but present moonlight. She wore a pink dress that was decorated with zippers and it fit her perfectly. Her curves were nicely shown and Vanitas could see that she was a beautiful young woman, suddenly, his body felt warmer in her presence. He was intrigued by her and the hole in his chest seemed a bit not so hole anymore. He couldn't help but think that he was glad to see her.

But.. Why was he thinking that? Who was she anyway? He was brought back to reality when she turned towards him and looked straight at him. Her sparkling blue eyes looked furious and she stood up while saying: "I won't let you have him. I won't let you have him too!"

She took her battle pose and summoned her keyblade that was decorated with all kinds of flowers, it looked almost as delicate and graceful as its owner. A keyblade..  
Fate wasn't kind, Vanitas' chest started hurting again.  
He really didn't want to fight her but she was the last piece that he needed..

He didn't know what to do and they both stood there in an awkward silence. The girl hesitated because he didn't make a move, but then she charged at him and in defense he summoned his keyblade just in time and blocked her attack. His body moved on his own, while his mind was deciding whether or not to go through with the plan. What should he do? Fight her, or leave her be?  
Why was he even thinking about letting her go? The X-blade was his only purpose in life, Xehanort said it himself! So why.. Why was she different than the others? She's just another keyblade wielder, maybe this was her magic that tried to confuse him. Yeah, that was probably it. But it didn't matter what he said to himself, he just couldn't get himself to attack her. Every time that he looked at that determined face when she laid her next attack, the feeling in his chest grew more sad and he couldn't bear it that she was attacking him with such anger and hatred. He wanted her to smile instead, but she kept charging at him and he was forced to his knees. He didn't fight back, he only blocked. But then, he was a second too late to block her attack and she hit his mask. It shattered..

The next moment, she stopped attacking and looked in surprise at the man in front of her. Vanitas was glad that she stopped, because he didn't want this fight in the first place. He just wanted time to stop and leave him be, because this hurt damn too much.. A broken emotion appeared on the girl's face and her eyes were shining a bit more in the moonlight as she held back her tears.

"S-Sora? Is that you?"

Vanitas stood up, but didn't answer her. His haert was at ease when she said this name, but he couldn't face her. For one moment, he thought that he didn't need the X-blade to become whole. When he was with her, everything seemed right. She came closer and went through his black hair with her hand, now he dared to look in her eyes with his own yellowgold ones. A tear rolled on her cheek and he didn't know why, but he whipped it away with his thumb. She smiled. It was a beautiful, warm smile that almost made his haert melt.

"It really is you."

Then, she did something that scared him a bit. She hugged him. A warm glow went through his body and he felt his darkness slowly disappear a bit. But then a voice was heard in his head..

_You didn't forget about your mission, do you?_

Vanitas recognized Xehanort's voice and he was pulled out of his daze. He had a purpose to carry out! But was that really the only way? What if this girl was the key to his happiness?

_She's just another piece that needs to be collected. And as a seeker of darkness, she's a witch of light that controls your haert._

Vanitas was so confused, he didn't know what to do. He didn't want to, but he let her go and she looked up in surprise.

"Sora.. What's going on? What happened to you?"  
"I.. I need to go."  
"Why did you fight Riku? Did Xehanort made you do this?"

Vanitas was a bit shocked when she said that name, how did she know about him? But he calmed himself and didn't answer her, instead, he walked past her towards the white-haired boy. He laid him over his shoulder and looked at the girl once more before saying something that broke his haert.

"If you want to see this guy again, come to the keyblade graveyard.. We'll be waiting."  
"Sora? .. Why? What are you going to do with Riku? Is this also part of that deal of yours?"

An image crossed his mind, he saw Xehanort reaching out his hand to him and he reached for it, but then the memory faded. This girl was dangerous and he needed to get out of here. He didn't answer and summoned a black portal, but she suddenly asked something with that sweet voice of hers.

"Do you even remember me?"

He looked at her, confused. This was the first time they met, wasn't it? Then why would he have to remember her? She was just messing with his mind, stupid girl.

"It starts with a 'K' and the boy you're carrying is Riku."

She smiled at him, as if he was no threat at all. The others had been scared of him, or hated him but not her. She stood there and smiled at him while saying: "Try to remember. It's worth it."

He looked at her one more time before he stepped through the black portal. At that very moment, all the light that she made him feel disappeared in an instant. He felt more sad than ever, and confused. Images of her running on a beach crossed his mind, but he didn't know why.. He wanted to go back, he wanted to feel her warmth again. But he had to fulfill his purpose, or else he would never feel whole. Xehanort had explained everything to him, but he started doubting the man. What if this wasn't his purpose? Vanitas looked around, but there was no Xehanort. He must be gathering the last keyblade wielder that they needed, so Vanitas laid this 'Riku-person' next to the other two keyblade wielders who were still in a dark sleep and looked at them. Was this really what he wanted? He didn't know it anymore, a small part of him hoped the girl would come sooner than Xehanort. He looked at the sky.

"It starts with a 'K', huh? Let's see.."

~~With Xehanort~~

Xehanort saw the king entering the library and smirked as he walked over towards his desk. After a couple of steps, he finally saw the old man in a corner. The king immediately recognized him and summoned his keyblade.

"What are you doing here, Xehanort?"  
"You always cut to the chase, don't you King Mickey?"  
"Well, I remember you don't like to be kept waiting. What do you want?"  
"So rude, I just came to invite you to an historical event that's about to take place. And I wanted you to be a part of it. You should be glad, it's an honor that you may join them."  
"Them?"  
"Your friends of course, Sora has done a great job up to now. You should praise him."  
"What are you scheming? Where did you use him for?"

Xehanort took his time and smiled when he said: "Find out for yourself. If you want to protect them, come to the keyblade graveyard and as you said, I don't like to be kept waiting."  
"I won't fall for your trap."  
"Suit yourself, then they will all die and their blood shall be on your hands.."

Xehanort smiled a devilish smile towards the king, who was deciding whether or not to believe what the old master told him. If he went, then Xehanort's plan would be completed, but if he didn't go, then his friends would have to stand up to him alone.. And he knew very well that Xehanort was too strong for them. He was at a whole other level than his friends could handle right now.

"It's up to you, _King_ Mickey. I hope to see you soon."

Xehanort spit the word king out as if it was impossible that this young disciple of Eraqus and Yen Sid had control over this world. Xehanort summoned a black portal and disappeared in it, leaving the king behind him. He knew that the king wouldn't leave his friends. But there was another problem, he had felt a stir in his disciple's mind. He used his telepathic abilities and told Vanitas to stay focused. But it was difficult. Xehanort had to hurry, the seal on Vanitas' haert wasn't going to last forever.. He was standing on top of a huge cliff with a panoramic view over the keyblade graveyard. He saw Vanitas coming out of a portal with yet another keyblade wielder. He was glad that he picked this boy, he did an excellent job. Then he turned towards the field full of rusted old keyblades. This was where his research would finally get some results. He stayed focused for a minute and tried to summon his other eleven vessels to complete the ritual. Slowly, one by one, men in dark cloaks started to appear next to Vanitas until there were eleven of them.

Xehanort had used more magic power to do this than he wanted, but then he turned towards the cloaks: "Let's fulfill our destiny today and forge the weapon that will lead us to the very first light after a decade of pure darkness. Come with me, to the thirteenth vessel and we'll join together to fight the seven lights."  
Xehanort turned and started to go down, followed by the dark cloaks, towards his waiting thirteenth vessel, Vanitas.

**Ö Things are going to heat up now! The end is near.. Will it be happy or not? Wel, see in the next chapter!  
Anyway, thanks for reading!**


End file.
